Talk:Compose key

Horribly written
This article is horrible. Not only is it so poorly explained as to be nearly incomprehensible, it also contains numerous grammatical mistakes. The article doesn't ever actually explain how the key works. It gives *opinions* about where the key should be on a keyboard without substantiation (who ever wrote it must have amazingly dexterous thumbs, btw). Someone really needs to spend an afternoon or two fixing this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Transfire (talk • contribs) 22:45, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Does anyone know a computer/computer keyboard that has an compose key?
Does anyone know a computer/computer keyboard that has an compose key? --Abdull 12:37, 8 February 2006 (UTC)


 * LK201-family keyboards from Digital Equipment Corporation routinely had them. So do Sun Microsystems keyboards. I've now added that to the article. - Atlant 12:38, 8 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I would assume they're more common in countries where their alphabet has accented/modefied letters. Fresheneesz 18:45, 9 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Not at all. In fact, to my knowledge, only UNIX keyboards have them (or rather, keyboards made by UNIX vendors). Languages that use accented/modified letters usually have them directly on the keyboard, use so-called dead keys (which are kinda like automated compose keys so ', e = é, but mean you can't do sequences like Compose, a, e = æ), or use an Alt Graphics key. I'm presently uploading a picture of my Sun Type 5c keyboard's Compose key (and some context) to help illustrate this article. —Felix the Cassowary 14:01, 8 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Here I describe how you set your Windows-key as compose-key on any Linux: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Configuring_keyboards --ThorstenStaerk (talk) 04:14, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

New photo?
The current photo is dark and has flash glare. A nice one would be good. —Ben FrantzDale 22:20, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

mobail compoes
motorola —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.103.73 (talk) 13:36, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

there should be a comprehensive list of compose key characters for MS Win, *nix, and Mac
Here are some mac ones: (sorry it's not a table; i'll change it later)

option plus ` gives `

option plus 1 gives ¡

option plus 2 gives ™

option plus 3 gives £

option plus 4 gives ¢

option plus 5 gives ∞

option plus 6 gives §

option plus 7 gives ¶

option plus 8 gives •

option plus 9 gives ª

option plus 0 gives º

option plus - gives –

option plus = gives ≠

option plus [ gives “

option plus ] gives ‘

option plus \ gives «

option plus ; gives …

option plus ' gives æ

option plus, gives ≤

option plus. gives ≥

option plus / gives ÷

option plus shift plus ` gives `

option plus shift plus 1 gives ⁄

option plus shift plus 2 gives €

option plus shift plus 3 gives ‹

option plus shift plus 4 gives ›

option plus shift plus 5 gives ﬁ

option plus shift plus 6 gives ﬂ

option plus shift plus 7 gives ‡

option plus shift plus 8 gives °

option plus shift plus 9 gives ·

option plus shift plus 0 gives ‚

option plus shift plus - gives —

option plus shift plus = gives ±

option plus shift plus [ gives ”

option plus shift plus ] gives ’

option plus shift plus \ gives »

option plus shift plus ; gives Ú

option plus shift plus ' gives Æ

option plus shift plus, gives ¯

option plus shift plus. gives ˘

option plus shift plus / gives ¿

70.112.111.214 (talk) 16:10, 20 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, but the Mac key sequences listed above have nothing to do with the compose key. Rather they are a kind of secondary-shift combinations akin to the PC AltGr key. There is also a dedicated article for the Mac Option key, where I think this list would actually belong. ― Simo Kaupinmäki (talk) 18:33, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Gratuitous complexity warning
I'm not motivated to deal with this right now, but it should be noted that Gnome has its own list of compose-key sequences, and they're different from the list in this article, and some of the standard characters are unavailable, for instance "½", motivating Gnome users to implement a workaround. Also different "locales" may have different standard lists. "It just works" fail. Foogus (talk) 03:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

The Keyboard template
It doesn't make much sense to see the "IBM/Windows keyboard (US layout)" at the bottom of the page. I suggest the template should either be removed from this page or somehow extended with stuff like Command, Compose and Fn keys (perhaps by simply listing them below the main image). --78.60.171.149 (talk) 14:24, 24 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, I just removed the template. It doesn't seem to appear on Command key page, so I assume it's OK to remove it from here too.--78.60.171.149 (talk) 14:27, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Compose key/Dead key merge
These keys seem to serve the same basic purpose of creating special characters out of two keystrokes. Because one reads the keys in a different order than the other does not justify two separate articles -- or am I missing something else? Not sure what the merged article should be named. --Vossanova o&lt; 18:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Apart from needing to find a common name for a merged artcie, there are also substantiale differences:


 * - Compose keys are labeled as such and serve exclusively to generate accented and non-accented special characters like § or β. When struck, they do not print anything by themselves, and have to be combined with two or more other keys, e.g. a and ~ for ã.


 * - Dead Keys usually carry no extra lables beyond their particular diacritic mark `"~ (with rare exceptions), they always print this mark when struck, weather by itself or in combinations. So the range of characters each one can produce with other keys is limited: writing àáã requires three dead keys plus a. Also, Dead Keys were already in use with typewriters, whereas the Compose Key requires a computer.


 * Textor (talk) 12:07, 16 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Also, Wikipedia has articles for Windows key Control key, Alt key etc. Why should Compose be ignored? --78.60.171.149 (talk) 14:24, 24 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Moved from Talk:Dead key:
 * No, these are different and should not be merged. A dead key is a key labeled with a certain diacritical character which never produces a character of its own, it only modifies the next key that is pressed to include the diacritic. You will need several dead keys, one for each diacritic, or alternatively, a keyboard layout can have combined normal/dead keys that produce punctuation or diacritic depending on the next key pressed. A compose key, on the other hand, is a single control-like key which basically turns the key with which it is pressed together, or alternatively the next key that is pressed, into a dead key (if that next key is part of a defined combination). This is different enough to warrant separate articles; otherwise we should also merge the articles on shift and caps lock. – gpvos (talk) 10:44, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Please parse this
The last paragraph of the lead currently reads like this: "Originally the currency sign on the keyboards were nationalized, and not every keyboard sold in the world contained a dollar sign ($), which explains why it appears there, although it is part of any standard keyboard since the 1990s. In particular the $ compose sequence ceased to work on modern systems. The historic backslash sequence (compose-//) witnesses of the similar situation for this key and is still working on modern systems." It's hard to understand what this is trying to say. Is the first half talking about using the dollar sign key as the compose key, or using a compose key sequence to get a dollar sign? And the last half is even more confusing. Is it trying to say that "compose-//" (these are slashes, by the way, not backslashes) were/are used to get a dollar sign or other currency symbol, or are we talking about something else here? - dcljr (talk) 21:44, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I believe he is trying to say that keyboards in some countries lacked a dollar sign, and since the dollar sign is required for some applications, a compose key was required to type the dollar sign. However, the old compose sequence that created a dollar sign no longer works as it is not required. A similar situation was the sequence for typing backslash for those keyboards that lack the key - that is, compose-/-/. This sequence still works on modern systems.


 * I know the second part about backslash is truthful, but I have no idea of how true the dollar sign bit is. Muzer (talk) 13:33, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Convention about + and, . And are Shift + AltGr and AltGr + Shift different?
Fist of all, a preliminary remark (that may bring out to an another issue) : I assume that in this article (And they may sum up to three keys, four keys, and so on)
 * when the  symbol join two keys icons (or text) this means that you have to press the two keys at the same time
 * when the  symbol join two keys icons (or text) this means that you have to press the first key, then release it and then press the second key.

Is this right?

(This may bring to an issue: Should we write down this explanation in the article? or -if possible- put a wikilink to a page where this convention is explained?)

Well, I read this in the "Compose key in various computer systems" section:
 * Note that it is common for Shift+AltGr to be mapped to the compose key, but for AltGr+Shift to be mapped to the fourth "keyboard level" modifier.

If + symbol has the meaning told above (that the keys are pressed at the same time), which is the difference between Shift+AltGr and AltGr+Shift, and how may they yield different results? --79.50.131.134 (talk) 18:30, 21 January 2012 (UTC)


 * It means the "down" for both keys proceeds the "up" for both keys (ie there is a period of time while both are held down). It is certainly impossible for a user to actually close the contacts at the exact same time, even when rounded to the rate at which the keyboard scans for events. In most cases it does not matter which is pushed first, or which is released first, and I think that can be assumed by default. But software bugs and purposeful design like you described may require a particular order. In that case I would always show them in the order they need to be pressed and mention this fact if it is considered important.Spitzak (talk) 19:50, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
 * So the difference is in the order of pressing down. Ok. p.s. I've found notation at Keyboard shortcut --79.50.131.134 (talk) 22:38, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

a-circle (å, e. g. Swedish)
Not shown in the table, but works here also via Compose-a-a. I dunno whether it's standard, so I'm still hesitating about adding it into the list. -andy 77.191.220.116 (talk) 12:46, 25 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the hesitation – minimizing number of listed items as possible is desirable, i think;… in the same time, choosing most intuitive variants? I would rather change ' to ' (for ă (breve)). —Mykhal (talk) 16:05, 10 April 2024 (UTC)
 * … done. —Mykhal (talk) 16:22, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Extended WinKeys
Would be good to explain how this works in Ubuntu config. Looks like ` becomes a compose with-accent character.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 20:58, 17 August 2017 (UTC).


 * That sounds like a "dead key", not a Compose key. I suspect you chose some non-English keyboard layout.Spitzak (talk) 17:38, 18 August 2017 (UTC)